Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Month: November 2010

30 Nov/ 3 Dec, Saba TV Kabul: Vendrell in interview

AAN • admin •

AAN’s Advisory Board chairman and former UN and EU special envoy to Afghanistan, Francesc Vendrell, will be on Saba TV’s (Kabul) ’30 Minutes’ programme, in an exclusive interview together with Pakistani writer and journalist Ahmad Rashid — tonight Tuesday Nov 30 at 8:30 PM and rebroadcast on Dec 3 at 9:30 PM on SABA Television. […]

Events Read more

Afghan Government Declares Kabul Smog Holiday

Kate Clark •

From tomorrow, 1 December, until the end of the Afghan year (20 March), Kabul will enjoy a proper, two-day weekend. Every Thursday, government offices will be closed and workers asked to stay at home. But it is not a social achievement – it is a smog-induced extra holiday, an attempt to give this polluted city […]

Rights and Freedoms Read more

2010 Elections (37): What’s in a name? – The Results

Kate Clark •

Just days before September’s elections, AAN made the rash prediction that it would be interesting to see how the brothers, daughters and sons of the rich and famous would do in the polls. We had noticed just how many were running – a brother of Vice-President Khalili, two cousins of President Karzai, a brother of […]

Political Landscape Read more

2010 Elections (36): The Post-Election Protest Wave

Other AAN •

Just when the first round of protests staged by parliamentary candidates who did not find their names in the winning preliminary results was waning, a conspicuous new round of disqualifications and then the announcement of the final results have poured fresh gasoline on the fire. The dramatic intervention of the Attorney General has stoked the […]

Political Landscape Read more
Kabul graffiti. Photo: Thomas Ruttig.

Nine Years and Fifty Days

Thomas Ruttig •

Unfortunately, I do not have much time to follow the Afghan press – and even less the many Afghan TV and radio stations. But it is worth tuning in – and if it is only to be reminded of a historical coincidence. So, here a few impressions on what I picked up over the past […]

Context and Culture Read more

Shiite deal gives militants new Afghan access

admin •

AP, 27 November 2010 Shiite Pashtuns from the Turi tribe, who hitherto have been enemies of Afghanistan’s insurgents, have cut a deal with the Haqqani network to give it a safe, alternative route to Afghanistan through Pakistan’s Kurram tribal region, reports Kathy Gannon.

Recommended Reads Read more

Talks are the only route in Afghanistan

admin •

Los Angeles Times, 27 November 2010 Ahmed Rashid proposes that a military victory over the Taleban is ‘elusive’ but that ‘serious talks are possible, but only if Taliban leaders are able to operate from a neutral venue. They see Afghanistan as being under U.S. occupation, and Pakistan’s intelligence agency, they say, tries to manipulate the […]

Recommended Reads Read more

2010 Elections (35): How the West was won

Fabrizio Foschini •

The controversial final results of the parliamentary elections are out, and it is time to look at the impact of the decisions made by the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC), even though it is still not clear to what extent the Attorney General’s interventions will be able to affect the final tally. AAN analyst Fabrizio Foschini […]

Political Landscape Read more

Talking to the Taliban about life after occupation

admin •

Guardian, 26 November 2010 In the last of his series from Afghanistan, Ghaith Abdul-Ahad asks Taliban leaders past and present what kind of regime they would run – and whether there is a chance of negotiated peace

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2010 Elections (34): Glossing over and moving on

Martine van Bijlert •

Yesterday, on 24 November, the Independent Election Commission (IEC) announced the final results for all but one of the Parliament’s constituencies. The UN and US were quick to welcome the move, having been desperate to do so for weeks. The message is clear and is by now a familiar one: ‘The process was messy, it […]

Political Landscape Read more

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